17-243 wssm

[deer140]

Hello, I have several brand-new barrels, half dozens barrel stubs, six or seven barrel lugs and a lot of time to kill. Would like to know if anyone has tried or has made a 17 – 243 WSSM. As I have some time to kill and and some barrels and parts laying around. I thought I'd try and see what they would do. I think they should be a pretty nifty little cartridge. If anyone has any thoughts on this. I would appreciate your thoughts, or ideals on the on these cartridges. I think I have dies that will work on both. Not real sure what kind velocity, I would be getting, but I do think that they would make dandy varmint rifles. I know they would have to be on a contender frame.

[Nobade]

No way should you contemplate doing ANY WSM or WSSM on a Contender. The Encore can't handle them, and the Contender is no where near as strong.

That said, you will be well past max useful case capacity for a 17 with this cartridge. Even at 22 cal it is too big, since it holds the same amount of powder as a 243 or 308 case. Not to mention the problems you'll have with the thick necks these cases have.

A 17 Remington is about as big is as practical, and even that isn't but a touch faster than a 17 Mach 4 or 17 Fireball. That size case is where happiness lies with 17 cal. cartridges.

Now a 17 Hornet on a Contender - now that is something that would be great fun!

[Catfish]

Everything Noblade said is true. It is just plain stupid to burn so much powder for so little gain. BUT, it does sound very interesting to me. I have a pair of 6-284`s and another barrel ready to screw on. I came to the conclusion that it did not burn enough powder so I have a barrel chambered in 6mm-300 WSM. The real draw back to the hole deal in the cost of the reamer. As for dies they are also pricy, but you can buy Redding S bushing dies in the parent round and get bushing for not only the neck dia. you need but also some intermeditate sizes to neck down the brass. You will definately need to turn the neck as they will be really thick by the time you get them down. If your are going to build something like this you will want to shoot the highest BC bullet you can get. That means you will need at least and 8 twist and a 7 twist might be better. To make use of the case you will have to use a slow burnning powder, which means you will need a longer barrel to burn it. Profound statement " You really have to know alot to make something that stupid work."       If you do build one keep us posted.

[deer140]

First off, I would like to thank Catfish and Nobade for their replies. However, one thing I have learned over the years is nothing is stupid only impractical. The post should have read Encore not Contender. Too many people talking and telling me what to put down my mistake. I appreciate your input, may look for different cartridge to use his parent case, maybe not.

[Catfish]

If your looking for something lite to carry and can put on a Contender frame that will still shoot point blank to 290 yrds. you should consider a 17 AH. With 10.4 gr. of powder I`m getting 3,600 fps. with a 19 gr bullet and the above pbr. Not a long range coyote killer, but if you have several barrels it is cheap to load and an excellant pelt round for fox and bob cats.